Stargazing
by Mobilisinmobili
Summary: Everyone says goodbye but not everyone can return it.
1. Prologue

Hello all!

Another plot bunny attacked me and this is the result. For those of you who've read my other stories you'd know that I really shouldn't be starting another story since I'm so bad at updating, but I couldn't help it! T^T

Therefore, a word of warning before you start reading, I can't promise, but I'll try to update every week or so!

Onwards!

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><p>Ring ~ RINNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG ~<p>

Suddenly a hand plunged into the water and waved in front of the wall that was becoming closer and closer in a dangerous speed. Needless to say, Rin lost his momentum due to the surprise and promptly swallowed some of the chlorine filled water before bursting out of the water while spluttering. He tore off his cap and goggles before focusing his glare on the wonder of said hand that threw him off

"I'm really sorry senpai, but your phone has been ringing on and off for the past couple of minutes. I think it's an important call." Aiichiro stammered.

Rin sighed and made his way out of the pool motioning for the next swimmer to go.

"Thanks Aiichiro." Rin replied as he walked towards the benches where he kept his stuff. He rifled through his bag before he found what he was looking for. His eyebrow arched immediately as he glanced at the screen.

[7 missed calls from: Makato]

[3 missed calls from: Rei]

[9 missed calls from: Nagisa]

and finally

[1 missed calls from: Haru]

Had he missed something? It couldn't be that he had managed to piss someone off could it? No, he had been at school all week training his ass off.

So what was is that had his old team trying so hard to get a hold of him? He sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair.

He debated for another moment before deciding on calling Makato since he knew that Makato wouldn't mince words or beat around the bush.

Ring~ Ring ~ Ri-

"Oh thank god Rin, you picked up!"

Makato sounded like he was on the verge of breaking down. He also heard Nagisa and Rei in the background asking if he had been found.

Rin was so so confused... "I must have missed something.." He thought to himself as he tried to rack his brain for any important dates.

"Makato, I need you to calm down. I don't understand what you're saying."

Makato took a deep breath.

"Haru is missing Rin."

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><p>I hope you all liked it. It was more of a prologue than anything.<p>

Please R&R :)


	2. Chapter 1

Hello all! Here's what is technically chapter 1!

I forgot to mention a few things in the prologue:

#1. There will be a character death in this story!

#2. This story is based off of the song **Past the Stargazing Season - Mili **(it might help listening to it first :3 )

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><p>"Haru are you okay?" Makoto asked concernedly as he eyed the large gash on Haru's arm.<p>

Haru looked up from his book to see a worried Makoto looming over him. It was an unnaturally hot day and Haru had decided to wear a long sleeve button up and was compensating by rolling them up.

"I'm fine Makoto. I just tripped going up the stairs to my house yesterday."

Haru replied nonchalantly.

"You did clean it out right?" Makoto asked.

Haru nodded.

"It's shallow, it just looks deep." Haru replied eyes going back to where he left off.

Makoto seemed to be satisfied with this answer and returned to his seat.

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><p>"Rin Senpai!"<p>

Nothing...

Aiichiro tried again.

"Rin Senpai!"

Rin's eyes stayed closed and he didn't move and inch from the position he was in, one leg resting on the table in front of him while the other steadied the chair he was leaning back in.

Aiichiro sighed. On one hand he needed to grab the attention of Matsuoka Senpai, but on the other hand he knew that any physical advances to grab his attention would most likely result in Matsuoka losing his balance and falling. He didn't want to injure his Senpai, that would be horrible, Sosuke Senpai or Matsuoka Senpai would murder him...

"Why must he listen to his music so loudly..?"

Aiichiro was still debating when Sosuke walked in looking extremely bemused.

"I sent you to find Rin ten minutes ago, what's taking so long?"

"Go-gomen Senpai... I didn't know how to grab his attention without hurting him.."

Sosuke arched his brow obviously waiting for more information.

"He can't hear anything at the moment, he's wearing earphones.."

Without further warning Sosuke marched over to Rin and simultaneously yanked both earphones out while holding on to the back of the chair so that he wouldn't fall.

"The fu-?" Rin started in surprise.

"You're late for practice. The bus is waiting." Sosuke's mouth was a thin line as he hovered over Rin whose chair was still tilted at a scary angle.

Once Sosuke was sure that Rin had gotten the message he hauled the chair upright again and motioned for Aiichiro to go ahead and leave first.

Aiichiro nodded and hurried out of the room. He wasn't about to stay and see Rin senpai's reaction.

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><p>It turned out, Rin had learned from Sosuke, that the coach thought it would be a good idea to have a joint practice with Iwatobi at Iwatobi's pool. Since the first years were gone due to a class trip they would be able to manage.<p>

It was a beautiful day, and the sun seemed to be shining even brighter than it had been earlier that day. Rin stretched as he stepped off of the bus onto Iwatobi's campus.

"Nii chan!" Gou called out happily.

Rin called for all of the members to gather around as Gou approached.

"Welcome everyone. I'm glad you could all make it!" We've got to hurry though, I think Nagisa might end up hurting someone if we don't get the practice races started soon. He's been waiting all day."

Rin smiled and motioned for everyone to follow.

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><p>Gou had been right. The moment Rin stepped into view Nagisa attacked.<p>

"RIN! Are you excited?! It's been so long~"

"Nagisa, it's been two weeks..." Rin huffed as he tried to pry Nagisa off.

"Ma ma Nagisa, you're going to injure Rin." Makoto said with a chuckle.

"He's right Nagisa. You should be more careful." Rei chided.

Nagisa finally let go.

It was nice, Rin admitted, to be able to swim with everyone again. Just like old times.

But something was wrong...

Rin looked around.

A look of confusion flitted across his face.

"Where's Haru?" He addressed the four.

"Over here..."

Rin turned around as his eyes searched for the elusive voice.

There was Haru, sitting on a bench near the gate under a tree.

"What're you doing over there?" Rin asked confused.

"Sitting obviously." Haru replied, face in a deadpanned glare.

Rin turned around to face everyone else.

"Someone pinch me. Haru's not the first one in the water..." Rin smirked.

He turned back to Haru.

"Hey, but seriously, why aren't you in the water? What's wrong with you?"

Haru frowned.

"I'm not allowed to." He hissed. Rin was pretty sure that he heard a bit of venom in Haru's voice.

"Eh..? Why not?" Rin asked. He was completely thrown. Was this some type of sick punishment tailored just for Haru? What could have Haru possibly done to merit this?!"

Haru turned his head slightly to glare at Gou and Makoto.

Makoto chucked uncomfortably, obviously unnerved by Haru's glare.

"He cut himself pretty badly yesterday and I didn't want it to get infected." Gou replied authoritively. But she too was steadily avoiding eye contact with Haru.

"Oh..." Rin definitely wasn't expecting that answer. He had never seen Haru get too badly injured before. He was too level headed and practical to jump around and do dangerous stunts like Nagisa.

"Let me see." Rin demanded walking over to Haru, arm extended expectantly.

Haru sighed an insufferable sigh and turned his arm to show Rin the damage.

Rin sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes widened.

"It's nothing." Haru replied defensively.

"Senpai! That's not nothing! It looks horrible!" Nitori spoke, eyes wide, obviously concerned.

"He's right Haru, it looks really bad... How'd you even manage to get so hurt in the first place?" Rin's brows scrunched up with worry.

Haru yanked his arm out of Rin's grasp and pulled his sleeves down to cover the wound.

"I tripped." Haru answered briskly.

Rin's brows arched and he looked over towards the Iwatobi team to see that they too didn't fully believe the excuse. But they let it go to begin practice.

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><p>Rin had found as the minutes passed Haru began to look more and more like a pitiful puppy who had been kicked one too many times. It was rather unnerving.<p>

Apparently this went for everyone because by the time half of the practice was over everyone was studiously avoiding looking at that particular area, even Gou.

Poor Haru was left to stare longingly at the pristine cool blue water.

This was going to be a very very long practice...


	3. Chapter 2 (Part I)

Hello again! :)

Just as Rin predicted, practice was absolutely brutal. By the end of it he felt drained both physically and emotionally. Avoiding the general area of Haru's bench was difficult because of the location of the diving boards. Eye contact was inevitable. Never mind looking like a kicked puppy, when Rin was made to race against someone who wasn't Haru, Haru looked as though someone had murdered his puppy in front of him.

Rin was pretty sure that his friends felt the same way. Even Nagisa had taken to not looking up when he was on the diving board preparing to go.

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><p>When practice ended the Iwatobi team said their goodbyes to Samezuka, but Rin decided to stay behind.<p>

He marched over to Haru like a man on a mission. When he arrived, Haru looked up from the position he was in, elbows resting on his thighs with his head bowed, hands supporting his head.

"You don't honestly think that I would fall for that bullshit do you?"

Haru just stared back, eyes unfocused. He looked rather tired.

"What actually happened?"

"I told you, I fell and caught myself awkwardly."

Rin just stared

"Haru, I have never yet seen you trip or fall." Rin said flatly.

"It's what people do." Haru responded equally as flat.

"Ma ma Rin, I'm sure Haru's telling the truth." Makoto said appearing behind Rin.

Haru stayed stubbornly silent.

Rin turned to make eye contact with Makoto before throwing his hands in the air in irritation.

"Fine fine, whatever. But I still don't believe you." Rin pointed at Haru.

Haru merely shrugged.

"Lets go Haru." Mako called out, already heading towards the gate. "Rin, you should come with us." He turned. "We're going to go grab something to eat."

Rin shuffled awkwardly."I should get back..."

"But Rin!" Nagisa had come up out of nowhere to jump tackle Rin.

"Wha-" Rin stumbled

"Okay, okay, just get off of me Nagisa."

Nagisa happily obliged.

"I'll go get Rei." He chirped as he ran off towards the locker rooms.

"We'll meet you both in front of the school!" Mako yelled.

Nagisa turned to make an okay sign back.

"Alright then. Do you both have everything?"

Rin nodded

Haru stood shouldering his bag.

Let's go!

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><p>"Eh?! What do you mean he's not here today?!" Nagisa exclaimed.<p>

Makoto look rather unsure himself.

"He's sick."

Gou gaped.

"He was fine two days ago when you all went out to eat... And he hasn't even touched the pool for the last two practices!"

"Is he okay? How is his temperature? Has he visited the hospital? Maybe we should bring him soup..."

Rei's eyes widened with every question.

Makoto raised his hands in attempt to placate everyone.

"I'm not completely sure, he sounded like he had a cough and stuffy nose. He said it was probably just a cold." He didn't sound so sure of himself.

"Don't worry everyone, Haru said he'll be back in a day or two."

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><p>Samezuka came back again the next day to practice with the excuse that someone had decided to prank the swim club by messing up their pool by mixing in jello mix... Needless to say, Samezuka was not going to be practicing in their home turf for a while.<p>

"Fucking assholes..." Rin griped

He was by far the most furious.

"It's okay Rin. It'll be a party!" Nagisa chirped as he ran towards the pool and jumped in causing a large splash.

Rin ran a hand down his face.

"Don't kill anyone Rin, you'll set a bad example for the underclassmen." Sosuke said sarcastically as he passed Rin patting him on the back.

Rin just sighed...

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><p>"Where's your friend?" Sosuke asked casually as he sat down next to Rin on the bench near the gate.<p>

Rin snapped out of his dazed gaze. He had been watching the underclassmen swim, looking for any weaknesses to fix.

"Huh?" He turned to focus on Sosuke

"Your friend, Haru. I haven't seen him all practice." Sosuke looked slightly concerned.

"Isn't he addicted to water or something?"

Rin chuckled. "Yeah, something like that." He straightened up and looked around. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him either."

He reached into his bag to pull out his phone.

He clicked through the list of his contacts. "Does Haru even know how to use a phone...?"

RING ~ RING ~ RING~ RI-

"Hello? A very tired tired sounding Haru answered. His voice sounded scratchy and painful, followed up by a series of painful sounding coughs.

"I was going to ask you where you were, but nevermind. You sound like shit..."

"Who is that?" Nagisa came bounding over.

Rin covered the phone

"It's Haru."

"Put him on speaker!" Nagisa commanded

Rin did as he was told

"Haru, you still there?"

Cough...Cough...

"Obviously." Haru answered in an irritated tone. His voices sounded worse off than before.

"HARU! are you feeling okay?" Nagisa asked brightly.

"...Nagisa, please lower your voice. You're giving me a headache."

"Oh... Sorry." Nagisa quieted down.

Makoto wandered over.

"Mako, it's Haru!" Nagisa attempted to whisper excitedly.

"Eh?" Makoto advanced towards the phone.

"Haru, I hope you've been resting today. Do you need anything? I can stop by the store on the way home."

Another fit of hacking coughs.

"I'm fine. I'll probably be back tomorrow or so."

Rin gave the phone a look.

"Even you aren't that good at lying Nanase."

Silence.

The silence was broken by another coughing fit.

Makoto's smile dropped off his face.

"Haru, have you thought about getting checked out by a doctor?"

"I'm fine." Haru replied brusquely.

Makoto made eye contact with Rin and Nagisa. Both boys had twin looks of scary looking anticipation, wicked grins on both of them.

"Alright then Haru. Rest up okay? Make sure you stay hydrated."

Makoto ended the call.

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><p>Sorry guys, I thought it was getting too long so I split this chapter in half. So there should be a chapter 2 part 2 coming up soon!<p>

Please R&R


	4. Chapter 2 (Part II)

Hello all!

Apologies all around... I kind of got a bit caught up in my other stories... o_o sorry...

Anywho, I hope you all enjoy part 2 of chapter 2 :)

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><p>The moment practice was over Rin left Souske in charge and sprinted out of the pool area.<p>

Makoto did the same apologizing to Gou as he shoved his things into his bag as fast as he could. Nagisa all but flew out dragging a confused Rei behind him. They all made their way to Haru's house plotting all the way there.

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><p>When they arrived Makoto knocked on the door as they all waited. After a few minutes Mako lead them to the back entrance where they all dumped their bags.<p>

"HARU!" Rin yelled excitedly.

"Rin! Be quiet! He may still be asleep." Makoto admonished.

Nagisa ran towards the stairs.

"Let's go!" He said impatiently.

But just as everyone was making their way upstairs the bathroom door opened revealing a very tired Haru. He wore a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve that was thoroughly soaked. He leaned heavily against the frame, his fatigue obvious.

"So loud..." He said, his voice hoarse and tired.

"Haru! what are you doing out of bed? And why are you sopping wet?" Mako asked.

"Don't tell me you were soaking in the tub..." Rin said exasperatedly. He walked over to his bag and plucked out a clean towel and threw it to Haru.

His look of exasperation changed to one of intense scrutiny when he noticed something off. He slowly but surely made his way over to where Haru was clutching the door frame with a considerable amount of strength. His knuckles were turning white from the pressure.

"Haru" Rin started off slowly.

"Why are you shivering?"

He reached out suddenly to touch Haru's forehead but ended up brushing past his hair as Haru attempted to dodge the touch.

Rin recoiled.

"You were sitting in an ice bath?!" Rin looked at Haru as though he had gone mad.

Everyone froze.

Makoto's face hardened into one of disapproval. One he saved for when his little siblongs were being exceptionally rowdy.

"Explain." He commanded in a tone that left no room for arguments.

Silence...

"Haru." He prompted again.

Haru raised his head from where he had been resting it against the doorframe.

"It was hot. It's still too hot..."

Everyone stayed frozen. And then suddenly...

"Rin, hold him down."

It took a second longer for Haru to digest the information, but a second was all Rin needed. He jumped into action engulfing Haru into a hold, pinning his arms by his side.

"Makoto senpai, what are y-" Rei began but stopped abruptly when he saw the look in his eyes. He and Nagisa stated where they were, in relative safety.

Haru's struggling only lasted for a few moments before he ran out of energy, slumping against Rin breathing heavily and dissolving into a fit of horrible coughs.

Mako made his way over to where Haru and Rin stood. He brushed Haru's ice cold bangs out of the way before placing a hand over his forehead.

He snatched his hand away as quickly as Rin had.

"You're burning up Haru!"

Haru seemed to not have enough energy to glare at him properly.

"Come on, we have to get you into something dryer." He motioned for Rin to follow.

Rin nodded and proceeded to pick Haru up bridal style.

"Wha-" Haru began to argue before a fit of coughs overtook him.

"You wouldn't be able to get passed the stairs in the condition you're in." Rin replied in a gentle 'un-Rin' like way.

Haru sighed and conceded.

He really wasn't in a condition to do anything else.

* * *

><p>To say that Haru was stubborn would have been an understatement. He drew the line at the help offered to change his clothes. But of course everyone had enough decency to let him do at least that by himself.<p>

When the door opened Haru slumped out looking more tired than he was before.

"Are you all planning on staying?" He addressed the group.

He was dressed in grey sweatpants and another long sleeve t- shirt which was, Rei guessed, the closest Haru senpai got to pajamas. He already looked like he was drifting off standing.

"Actually" Rin replied with a wicked smile. It was what he had assumed, a comforting smile. Everyone save for Haru had to disagree. His smile was downright predatory with his sharp teeth killing any type of 'compassion' he was trying to channel.

Haru seemed unperturbed, just irritated. He just wanted to sleep!

"What do you mean 'actually'?" Haru bit out glaring at Rin.

Ring shrugged off Haru's glare.

"We're going somewhere. All of us. As a team."

Haru was passed the point of caring about politeness.

"You're not on my team." He responded bluntly.

Rin brushed off the blunt irritation.

"Team and friends." He answered back.

"I'm not in the right condition to swim."

"Good. We're not swimming."

"You all have school tomorrow."

"I'm sure everyone's done their homework."

Nagisa, Rei, and Makoto nodded.

"Besides, tomorrow is friday!" Nagisa chirped in.

That effectively put a stop to Rin and Haru's back and forth argument.

Haru sighed and ran a hand down his face.

He just wanted to sleep...

"Can I at least know where we're going?" He dropped his hands and turned his tired gaze towards Rin.

Rin looked like he was thoroughly enjoying this. After all, it wasn't every day that Haru broke his nonchalant demeanor.

"Nope" He grinned back.

...

Silence...

"Fine. Fine." Haru gave in.

"He's going to be so pissed when he realizes..." Rin thought as he dragged his half awake friend out of the house and towards the train station.

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><p>The Nanase house fell silent.<p>

It was as though it were saying its goodbye early.

How fitting...

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><p>Please R&amp;R I love to hear your comments and ideas and so forth :)<p> 


	5. Chapter 3

I dedicate this chapter to the very lovely reader: (luukagu) for making my day with a wonderful review :)

Anywho, I should have the next chapter up soon!

Onward!

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><p>Haru was a patient person, he really was. Level headed and polite. Slightly cold and blunt in his attitude, but everyone knew it was simply one of his quirks. The neighbors all knew him and viewed him as a good role model for the younger kids, he and Makoto both.<p>

However, when he woke up he decided that he didn't give a damn about patience and that manners could go to hell for all he cared.

He hurt everywhere.

His head was killing him, and his body refused to do what he wanted.

He took a deep breath before summoning all of his remaining energy to roll over so that he could stretch his back.

Mid roll he froze, eyes meeting an IV rack.

Why was he horizontal?

Where was he?

The sudden adrenaline gave him an extra boost of strength that helped him sit up on the bed.

Bed...?

He was hitting a blank.

He rubbed his eyes again to clear the lingering blurriness and looked around the room. He did a double take when he spotted something in the corner nearest to his bed.

Rin.

Rin was stretched out in an uncomfortable looking position on a chair that was pushed against the wall. He was dead to the world, snoring softly, hair a mess of red splayed across his face. He looked tired.

A hospital?

It certainly looked the part with all of the machinery and the linger smell of antiseptic in the air.

He waited another few minutes before he hauled himself off of the bed. The floor was cold on his bare feet.

He stopped abruptly, dizziness and nausea taking a hold of him. He breathed deeply for a couple of minutes before continuing.

He made it nearly all the way down the hall before he was stopped.

"Nanase, what the hell are you doing?"

Haru stopped abruptly, completely confused. It wasn't helping his farther growing headache either.

"Yamazaki?" Haru faltered, blinking a few times to make sure what he was seeing was real.

"Haru!" Another voice called from farther down the hallway. Haru craned his neck slightly sideways to see who it was.

"What are you doing out here?!" Makoto eyed him warily, checking for any injuries.

Yamazaki caught it before he Makoto did.

"Nanase, you're bleeding..." His eyes widened, worry tinging his voice.

"Har-" Makoto didn't get to finish before a furious and still very tired looking Rin stormed out of the previously abandoned room dragging an IV rack behind him.

" .fuck.?" Rin gestured to the IV rack.

Haru didn't seem fazed, just a tad bit confused.

"You should be resting Haru, you need to conserve your energy." Makoto admonished.

"Why am I in the hospital?" Haru asked completely ignoring Mako's warning.

"Because you're sick." Rin replied deadpan.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

Silence...

Rin broke off the staring contest with an aggravated sigh.

"Makoto, talk some sense into him!" He nodded in thanks as Yamakai handed him a cup of coffee.

"He's right Haru."

Haru continued stubborning glaring at Rin.

"Do you even remember anything from before you woke up?" Rin interjected taking a large gulp of coffee.

Haru frowned.

"We were...going somewhere..."

Makoto and Rin shared a look. It made Haru feel entirely uncomfortable.

Something was wrong...

"What happened?"

The bad feeling grew the longer the silence stretched. Both Rin and Makoto looked lost for words on how to explain as gently as they could what had happened.

"You collapsed Nanase." Yamazaki cut in peering intently at Haru.

Rin and Makoto started.

"He was going to find out eventually..."

Makoto sighed.

"We got as far as transferring onto the last train, but once we got on you collapsed. Yamazaki happened to be in the area and helped us bring you to the hospital." Makoto explained gently.

"Scared the shit out of Nagisa too." Rin added looking mournfully at his now empty cup.

"You've been out for about two days Haru." Makoto tapered off staring warily at Haru.

Silence...

Something was definitely wrong.

He looked like he was rooted to the spot, paler than normal skin tinged slightly green.

"Haru. Haru? Haru!" Rin prompted, waving a hand in front of his zoned out friend.

The reaction was instantaneous. Haru sprinted towards his room with surprising speed .

It took a moment for the other three to digest what had happened before they all ran towards the said room.

The sound of retching filled the air. They all winced in sympathy.

Makoto made his way over to the ensuite bathroom where he found Haru unceremoniously draped over the toilet. Cold sweat beaded on his face and tremors ran through him.

"Rin, get over here!"

Rin nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to comply. Yamazaki tagged along.

"Haru, rinse out your mouth." Makoto ordered handing Haru a plastic cup.

He complied, albeit very very slowly.

"Rin, take him back to his bed. Yamazaki, I need you to go find a nurse."

Makoto's big brother side was rearing its head and commands were fired off. There was no room for arguments when he got like this and both boys complied jumping into action.

After flushing the toilet Makoto dialed Gou to inform her that he would be missing practice for today and filled her in about Haru's condition. He then proceeded to call Aiichiro to tell him that both Rin and Sosuke would be unavailable for today's practice, informing him of their location and the situation at hand.

* * *

><p>By the time Sosuke returned with a harried looking nurse Haru had curled up into himself and had fallen asleep.<p>

"He wandered out and then ended up puking." Rin informed her. His hand was still shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush.

He had never seen Haru this sick before. A cold maybe, but everyone had those. This was way different and Rin felt out of his league as he watched the nurse re-insert the IV and check the monitors around the bed.

"Don't worry, he's doing fine. He just overexerted himself. He should be able to go home by the end of this week." The nurse informed the wary looking boys.

"Make sure he gets plenty of rest!" With that she left.

Makoto let out a shaky breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"He'll be okay." He said outloud, more to console himself than anything else.

Yamazaki and Rin un tensed, reassured by the words.

* * *

><p><strong>But then again, the universe is rarely so lazy...<strong>

* * *

><p>Dun dun dunnnnnn! :)<p>

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, It's kind of a cliffy but not really...? o_O

Anywho, please R&R


	6. Chapter 4

Hahahaha... So, I had this all written out for a while and I honestly thought I updated, but I guess I didn't... O_O

Sorry!

* * *

><p>"You shouldn't push yourself so hard Haru senpai" Aiichiro chided concretely.<p>

Of all of the upperclassmen he looked up to Haruka Nanase definitely ranked pretty high up, and not just because of his friendship with Rin senpai either. He was one of the only ones who did not add on to the teasing that, was most likely lighthearted in nature, but teasing nonetheless. He occasionally gave Aiichiro pointers on how to increase his speed and never pushed him out of a lane due to impatience, unlike many of the Samezuka upperclassmen.

So, when the two hour mark came and passed and Haru had yet to budge from his lane Aiichiro was feeling rather concerned.

He had after all heard that Nanase had just been released from the hospital only a few days prior.

Even Yamazaki was concerned. He glanced over to where Rin was watching the underclassmen do their laps.

"Oi Rin."

He looked up, tilting his head in a questioning manner.

Yamazaki nodded towards Haru's lane.

"You should stop Nanase before he gets himself hospitalized again."

Rin snapped his attention to Haru's lane.

"How long has he been in there for?"

"Since practice started."

Rin's speed was amazing.

He stationed himself at the edge of Haru's lane, like a fisherman waiting for his catch.

Once Haru came close enough he plunged his hands in and grabbed a hold of Haru and hauled him out of the water.

People began to stop their laps to stare at the commotion that was unfolding before their eyes.

Rin was trying very hard to wrestle out a confused Haru, and Haru was obviously struggling against Rin's hold, trying to wriggle out.

He came up coughing and cursing, glaring daggers at Rin who in turn wore a more than bemused look on his face.

" .Fuck?" Haru bit out breathing heavily/

Rin's face hardened and his eyes seemed ablaze.

"You just got out of the hospital you idiot."

"And?"

Rin sighed exasperatedly.

"And you're going to get yourself rehospitalized."

Haru glared for a moment longer unable to think of a comeback.

"Fine fine." He yanked his arm out of Rin's iron grip and maneuvered his way out of the pool.

"Seriously? This guy..." Rin huffed as he righted himself and turned towards the underclassmen.

"Stop dawdling! Get your butts back in the pool or I won't hesitate to kick you in."

That started a commotion all to itself. Everyone running around, getting back to work.

"Completely disregarding the rules of safety..." Rei tisked from behind.

"Senpai!" It was Aiichiro's yelp that brought Rin to an about face, just in time to see Haru stumble a few more steps in attempt to right himself.

Rin didn't think before he leaped a step to catch his friend.

"I'm fine Rin." Haru grumbled already prying himself out of Rin's grasp.

"No you aren't. Stop being so stubborn!" Rin responded, arms crossed glaring at Haru as Haru glared back.

The tense stare off was broken by what seemed to be Haru's legs giving out under him toppling him sideways.

"Oh for fuc-"

Rin looked around

"Sosuke! Makoto!"

Both boys rushed to Rin.

They helped Haru who was leaning heavily on Rin

"My car's out front." Yamazaki stated.

Both Rin and Makoto looked surprised.

"I'm not even going to ask. We need to get him to a hospital!" Rin ordered.

The three boys made their way as quickly as they could with Haru in tow to Yamazaki's waiting car, and sped off leaving a pool of concerned faces.

* * *

><p>Makoto and Rin swore that they would never ride in any car that yamazaki drove ever again for as long as they lived.<p>

By the time they got to the hospital both Rin and Makot were green in the face with nausea. Haru had blacked out somewhere between the parking lot and the trip leaving the three boys to carry him inside.

Only if they knew...

* * *

><p>In hindsight they must have been an unusual sight.<p>

Three soaking wet teens in their swimwear carrying in another soaking wet boy who on top of it all was unconscious...

All of them wore identical looks of panic that showed that they really had no idea what they were doing or what they were supposed to do at that point.

The group of nurses had pity on them and quickly took Haru out of their hands and offered them towels, which they took immediately.

It was after all, very rude to drip all over the ER waiting room...

And they were beginning to garner odd looks from the other patients too.

So they did what they could do, which was to take a seat and wait.

And wait and wait...

And to think of how they were going to explain this to the doctor, who would most likely be angry that they had managed to bring their friend back to the hospital less than a week after he was released.

Now that, was a very scary thought, and all three boys blanched and retreated into their individual thoughts to prepare themselves mentally for the reprimand they were probably going to receive.

Damn it...


	7. Authors note

Hello all!

yes, the dreaded author's note... I do apologize.

BUT, I swear it's for a good reason.

Pill be putting this story on hiatus until after December 19th.

this is mainly because I have exams that week and have no time to update but also because I'm thinking of revising a few chapters to fit with the new idea I had for the story.

so, I will NOT be abandoning this story! I have every intention of finishing it out, and I would greatly appreciate it if you'd stick with it till the end too :)

thanks everyone~

see you all soon, hopefully I'll pass my exams...


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